Rural areas stuck in the slow lane after broken pledge on broadband

About a million homes will have to settle for 10Mbps, the minimum internet companies are obliged to provide under the “universal service obligation”Steve Parsons/PA

Ministers have abandoned efforts to deliver superfast broadband to about a million homes, claiming that most of those in remote locations would not want it.

Sajid Javid, the business secretary, said he hoped to “spread the benefits of superfast broadband” — defined as 25 megabits per second (Mbps) — to the “final 5 per cent” of homes a year ago. In his time as culture secretary, Mr Javid commissioned trials on how to reach those who do not benefit from the 95 per cent coverage to be completed by the end of next year.

That effort appears to have been dropped, however, on the grounds that it is unaffordable and that most of the rural homes to be denied superfast broadband will not use it…